Groundhog Day (1993)

Andie MacDowell’s Rita isn’t really a character, she’s the final boss Phil keeps losing to, and the movie never stops to ask what she wants. That’s the one dent in a near-perfect comedy. Bill Murray plays a TV weatherman so smug you’d skip his forecast on purpose, and the movie strands him in the same February morning in a tiny town until he quits being a jerk. Harold Ramis never explains the loop. No curse, no machine, no wizard. Just a clock radio and the same song. Murray goes from pranks to despair to piano lessons, and every stage is funny. Stephen Tobolowsky’s Ned Ryerson is the most punchable insurance guy ever filmed and I’d still buy a policy. 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, over 742,000 IMDb ratings averaging an 8.0. A 9.1 because it starts as a goofy gimmick and quietly turns into a movie about how to be a decent person. $39.65 says the next time your alarm goes off, you lie there for a second checking whether it’s still yesterday.

What works: Bill Murray’s slide from smug to desperate to decent, and a time loop the movie is smart enough never to explain.

What doesn’t: Rita is written as a prize Phil has to earn, so the romance ends up the thinnest part of an otherwise sharp script.

Who it’s for: Anyone stuck in a job, a routine or a week that keeps repeating, and anyone who thinks comedies can’t go deep.